Chicago Bulls give postseason hopes boost with a huge win over the Denver Nuggets

The Bulls did the near impossible on Wednesday, taking down the West's best.

In what has been a trend for the Chicago Bulls this season, you never really know which version of the team will show up on any given night. This Wednesday night, on the Denver Nuggets’ home floor, it was the Bulls’ best version that made an appearance.

Led by wingman Zach LaVine’s scoring and Nikola Vucevic’s double-double, the Bulls took down the Nuggets 117-96 to improve to 30-36 and move to within a game of the Washington Wizards for 10th place and the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference.

Not going away

LaVine continued his hot shooting streak as he scored 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting. The UCLA high-flyer is averaging nearly 35 points in his last four games. Vucevic, on the other hand, had 25 points and 15 rebounds for his 40th double-double of the season—good for third-most in the Association.

Zach & Vooch leading the way in Denver 💪@ZachLaVine | @NikolaVucevic pic.twitter.com/ifFLwjBtLS

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) March 9, 2023

The victory was a welcome relief for a Bulls squad that had won just four times in their last 13 games. It also served as a reminder for the players that their door to the playoffs remains open.

“We’ve got a stretch of games that we need to win to get to where we want,” said Bulls forward Patrick Williams, who came off the bench and scored 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting. “I think it was good to kind of show ourselves that, but also show other teams that we’re here.”

Impressive defense

Defense has never been a problem for the Bulls this season, and they showed reigning league MVP Nikola Jokic their top-10 defense on Wednesday night, holding the Serbian powerhouse to a subpar game of just 18 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists. Jokic made just seven of his 16 attempts and committed five turnovers.

BIG BULLS WIN IN DENVER! 😤 pic.twitter.com/6US5Z2Hw0y

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) March 9, 2023

“You just try to make it tough for them,” LaVine said. “Obviously, Jokic is a two-time MVP. If we’re letting him shoot pull-up 3s, he can make them. But if he beats us that way, you tip your cap to him because it takes away from everything he does so great.”